13 Spring-Ford wrestlers qualify for districts

By
Barry Sankey, Phoenixville Reporter Item

Monday, February 17, 2014

BOYERTOWN - A cast of 23 area wrestlers, including 13 from Spring-Ford, advanced to the District 1-AAA West Tournament by finishing in the top five at the Pioneer Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 15.

Coach Tim Seislove’s Rams, who will host the district tourney Feb. 22, will be joined by six wrestlers from Perkiomen Valley and four from Phoenixville.

Spring-Ford placed second in the team scoring with 210.5 points to trail only champion Boyertown with 259.5. Perkiomen Valley came in seventh with 107 markers, and Phoenixville took ninth with 57 counters.

Boyertown sophomore 160-pounder Gregg Harvey (35-6) was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning his weight class with a fall in 5:13 against top-seeded Nick Giangiulio, a senior from Perkiomen Valley. Harvey received the Don Seeley Memorial Award for his efforts.

Earlier in the day Giangiulio established a new Perkiomen Valley school record with his 117th win. His 9-1 major decision over Upper Perkiomen’s Trevor Weeks in the semifinals broke the mark previously held by the Vikings’ Gavin Milligan. Giangiulio is the son of former Phoenixville and St. Pius X wrestler Mike Giangiulio.

“It was one of the goals I’ve had since the last record was set,” said Giangiulio. “Gavin did it during my freshman year.”

Giangiulio now has a 28-3 record for the season heading into the district tourney.

“I just wasn’t prepared,” Giangiulio said of his match against Harvey. “I need to train harder. He beat me. Gregg Harvey is one of the better wrestlers on their team.”

Giangiulio will be wrestling at the collegiate level next season at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Shepherd, the diminutive Phantom sophomore, advanced to the finals with a fall and 9-3 decision before falling to Boyertown’s top-seeded Jakob Campbell, a freshman. Campbell won via technical fall at 5:04 after building a 20-3 lead. Shepherd is now 21-8 on the year while Campbell is 34-6.

“Of course, it feels great to get to the finals after working so hard all year,” said Shepherd. “I am out here and showing what I got. It’s the dream. It’s tough giving up weight. Today I weighed in at 97 pounds so I was giving away 12 or 13 pounds.

“I’ve been wrestling for eight or nine years. Last year I had some troubles, but I adapted to changes. I am having a pretty good year this year.”

Shepherd has a confident attitude every time he takes the mat.

“I’m pretty quick, and I don’t let anything bother me,” said Shepherd. “I wrestle my match. If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose. I wrestle for six minutes. I give the opponent everything I’ve got.”

Shepherd said he wrestled Campbell four times last year in fairly close matches.

“He’s a tough competitor,” said Shepherd. “He’s gotten much better than last year. He took it to me today.”